CHEN Qingyuan, one of the 10 foreign nationals embroiled in the more-than-S$3 billion money laundering scandal, intends to plead guilty on May 23, court records on Wednesday (May 8) show.
Chen is the seventh person to indicate a guilty plea. Five others have been sentenced to 13 to 15 months’ jail, while one more – Vang Shuiming – has a mention fixed for May 14.
Cambodian passport holder Chen faces 10 charges related to money laundering and forgery. He was arrested on Aug 15 last year at his Leonie Hill Road condominium in an island-wide anti-money laundering blitz.
Two of the charges stated that Chen instigated, in September 2021, one Yin Hang Liu Shui Dian Hua to forge electronic records to show StanChart that Wang Qiujiao, Chen’s purported girlfriend, had legitimate sources of her wealth.
This was after the bank requested information in or around August 2021 about fund flows into Wang’s Standard Chartered (StanChart) bank account amounting to about S$3 million and US$100,000.
The forged documents include a personal income tax statement dated Sep 10, 2021, issued by China’s tax authority, as well as a February 2020 income certificate from Zi Qinghua, a company in China.
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Another two charges noted that in July 2021, Chen allegedly instigated one Yin Hang Liu Shui Dian Hua to forge income statements from another two China companies, Sunshine Coast and Xiamen Yihong, with the intention to commit fraud.
Two more alleged that Chen had engaged in a conspiracy with Wang and submitted the income certificates of Sunshine Coast and Xiamen Yihong to StanChart in December 2021.
In August last year, Chen, who also holds passports from Dominica and China, was slapped with four charges related to money laundering involving at least S$8 million in assets.
More than S$20 million worth of his assets – including cash, money in bank accounts, property, vehicles and cryptocurrency – were seized or issued prohibition of disposal orders, which means they cannot be sold. Around S$4.2 million of Wang’s assets were also seized or frozen.
He was denied bail in November last year on the grounds that he was a flight risk, has tenuous roots in Singapore and is purportedly already wanted in China on fraud charges.
The investigating officer in his case had also noted in an affidavit that Chen has substantial wealth in multiple jurisdictions overseas, including links to a casino business in Cambodia as well as high-end clubs and property in Thailand.
Chen is represented by Victor Lau, Gary Low and Tan Jia Yi of Drew & Napier.
Of the nine other foreign nationals involved, five – Su Wenqiang, Su Haijin, Su Baolin, Wang Baosen and Zhang Ruijin – have been jailed.
Su Wenqiang and Wang Baosen have been deported to Cambodia, according to an an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority spokesperson.
Vang is set to plead guilty next week, while three others – Lin Baoying, Wang Dehai and Su Jianfeng – are currently in remand.
